The big one is Gadget Maker, which lets users create and share custom content using one of seven available templates, including: Daily Me, best described as Twitter in module form; Framed Photo, for sharing a batch of photos with friends and family; and Personal List, which could be a favorites list, to-do list or whatever. In addition, the gadget directory now includes a My Community area for sharing these Gadget Maker gadgets with other users. So after you whip together, say, your Framed Photo gadget, you send it to grandma, Uncle Bill and anyone else in your circle (specifically, anyone in your Gmail contacts list), and then they can add to their own iGoogle. Thus your photos become their photos (for viewing, that is).

iGoogle has also gone global, making its previously U.S.-only themes available worldwide and making iGoogle itself available in 26 languages for 40-plus countries.

Apparently iGoogle has grown exponentially in the past year, so we can no doubt expect more tweaks and upgrades to come. In the meantime, what do you think of the new name? Are the new features enough to make you switch from, say, Netvibes? Put your thoughts in the comments.